How To Sell On eBay™ - A Basic Tutorial

ONE OF A KIND ITEMS- ITEMS THAT YOU OWN

ITEMS THAT YOU CAN SELL IN QUANTITY

HOW TO DECIDE WHAT TO SELL

How do you decide what types of items that you want to sell? Well, there are a few different ways to do this. The first thing I would do is make up a list of the items that you are considering for sale. Look at the items carefully, and write down information such as a description of the item, what you paid for it, the condition it is in, etc. Being very specific here will help you greatly if you decide to list any of these items for auction. Sometimes the smallest details can mean much greater prices, and much greater profits for you!

Now, take your list; sit down at your computer and search eBay™ for the types of items that you have come up with. Now, this may not be effective for that one of a kind BABE RUTH autograph. For about 85% of the things you want to sell, however, it should give you a pretty good idea of the market value of the item, as well as consumer interest.

So, get on your computer and go to the auction web site. Click on the area where it says "SEARCH" and you’re on your way. If you want an even easier way to search eBay™, check out the "Power Searching eBay™" section of this disk.

Back to the search page on eBay™ ….In the search box type a relevant term. If you want to know what GARTH BROOKS GREATEST HIT’S CD is worth type "GARTH BROOKS" in the title. If you’re looking into selling your VCR, simply type "VCR" into the search categories at eBay™. Have you ever taken a look at just how many listings are in the Beanie Baby category? It is absolutely amazing!

As you can see, with searching for the proper words, it is very simple to see if the types of items you want to sell are already being sold at auctions. When you find the listings, you can learn a few very important things. The first is, you can get a good idea on what the market price is. By seeing what other people have sold similar items for, you can decide whether or not you want to sell the item, as well as what you should expect to get for the item when it sells! When you search, you can look at auctions that have recently been completed, as well as current ones, to see what items similar to yours are bringing in for other people. After you find out all of this good information, you can now set out with an idea of what you should bring in for selling your items.

The other thing you will learn by searching the web site for other similar products is the amount of people that want the type of item that you are selling. The auction web site lists the amount of bids along with all of its items. This will tell you how many people are bidding on those items. Obviously, if you have fifty different people bidding on an item, it’s a lot more apt to bring in money than an item that is being bid on by only one or two people. This is not an iron-clad rule, though, since you only need one bidder to make money on your item!!

The best way to get started in the market of buying and selling is to decide how much money you can afford to invest right off the bat. I would recommend starting with at least two hundred dollars or so to begin your empire. It’s a small investment, and you should be able to double your money pretty quickly!

Then, you need to decide exactly what you want to buy and sell. Your choices here are virtually unlimited, as you have already seen. Here’s a good way to begin. If you have a hobby, or an expertise that gives you an edge in particular field, use it to your advantage! If you know computers, you might want to buy and sell computer equipment. If you’re a camera nut, then maybe photographic equipment would be your cup of tea! Remember, if you have an edge over 90% of the other people at the auction site, you will probably be able to spot the bargains that you can buy and then re-sell at a profit!

Another way to find out good items to buy and sell is to check out the auction web site, Usenet Newsgroups and your local classified ads to see what other people are buying and selling! Just because someone else is selling the product like yours does not mean that you should not try marketing your own version of it. As a matter of fact, just the opposite is true! After all, if someone is already successful selling something, you probably can be too! Imagine that everyone looked at HENRY FORD’S first car and said, "gee what a great idea… Too bad it’s been done, no need for me to try." We would all be driving Model A's if that was the case!

LOOK FOR ITEMS THAT ARE HOT

One of the things that I like to do is search the auction web site for collectable items that are extremely hot at that particular time. The beanie babies are the best example, but there are many, many others. I found out that some things that I would have never considered very highly collectable are bringing in a decent price at auction.

The most recent fad in this kind of a market was the Spice Girls dolls. They are an item that are literally flying off of the store shelves as soon as they come in, and people are willing to pay a premium to get them. Remember this, time is very valuable to the individual. The last thing anyone wants to do is scavenge all the local Wal-Mart and toy stores trying to get the latest toy. Most people would be much happier logging on to their computer, typing in a few keys and paying a little extra to get that special item.

Needless to say, I found a few cases of Spice Girls dolls, bought them, and resold them at a profit on both the auction site and on my own web site! If you are into collectibles, or something that you always have on hand, do consider getting your own web site where you can sell your products 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and you won’t have to pay eBay™ to list the items for you! Later, I will talk more about setting up your own web site to sell items!

CREATE ITEMS THAT YOU CAN PRODUCE & SELL YOURSELF

Another type of item that can be extremely successful is something that you can produce on your own. Things like grandma’s recipes, a "how-to" manual on hooking up your VCR, etc. These are the items that can offer you immense profits! I know, you’re asking yourself "what kind of item can I produce?" It’s simple, look at what you are good at and use it. If you can make the best brownies in town, sell your recipe. If you’re the guy everyone calls when they can’t figure it out how to do something on their computer, write a how to manual on that! Look at all of the books that are available "for dummies" on the store shelves. They sell like crazy, because everybody needs help to tell them how to do something! So take what you are good at and MARKET IT! People will gladly pay $5.00 to $10.00 for the information that they really need. After all, it is a very small price to pay in order to understand something, or to better yourself. And, while $5.00 or $10.00 is a relatively small amount for a buyer, it can really add up quickly for the seller! As I write this, my first listing for my "Auction Express" software has gotten over 70 bids in just the first five days that it has been listed! And, while it took a lot of time for me to put the program together, I can now sit back and duplicate that one disc and make a good amount of money on each one!

If you’ve ever watched the TV Food Network, and I know I watch it too much sometimes, you may have seen the show the Essence of Emeril. Chef Emeril Lagasse has a saying that I think is very relevant to what you want to do with selling you items on eBay™. Emeril says, "We’re not building a rocket ship here!" And, we are not building a rocket ship, nor are we reinventing the wheel. What you want to do is take a simple idea and nurture it, build it into something that you can offer the buyer. What you want to do is look for items that go for people’s "hot buttons".

While it may be true that everybody is different, it is also just as true that everyone is the same in a few ways. Everyone wants to make more money! I don’t care if you are near broke or Mr. Microsoft, Bill Gates himself; everyone wants to make more money! Everyone wants to be smarter. These are universal things that you can use to make yourself money!

Reference books, like the one that you are reading right now, are great items to sell! Trust me, they are not always easy to put together, and can challenging to get off of the ground! But, the payoff comes when you are finished! Not only can you sit back and feel you have accomplished something, you can now sell that one item over and over again! Printing costs are relatively low, and you can feel good making money by helping other people accomplish something that is important to them!

If you do decide to write a book, check your local print shops for a good deal on printing them up. When you are dealing with a lot of copies, and we certainly hope that they sell big, it is much easier to leave the copying, folding and stapling to the experts! Then, all you have to do is collect your checks and address the envelopes!

So, use your imagination. Examine your unique talents. Look at what products are in demand. The beanie baby craze can’t last forever! Just imagine you were the person who came up with that idea! It really is the simple ideas that can change your life forever!

SELL A QUALITY PRODUCT AT A FAIR PRICE

I want you to keep in mind, and never ever forget … People will buy virtually anything! That is, as long as you are providing a quality product at a fair price, you can be a huge success in buying and selling! Look for products that people use on a day to day basis. Look for a unique idea that you think is in demand; or take an existing idea and make it better. One of the hottest things right now is specialty mail order items. Items like cigars, beer, and lobsters are being sold via mail order. Use your imagination and think about what kind of a service you would like to see and if it is something that you can put together on your own, go for it! Also remember this, if people are happy with your product, they will become repeat customers!

Now that you know what you want to sell, it’s time to package it and market it for the auction process. Here is where it takes a little bit of planning and care to get your items noticed. Here is where you’ll learn the techniques that will get your items higher bids on average than similar items. The things I will show you are simple, but they are very effective. It’s amazing to see ads on eBay™ that are totally horrible. Ads that have misspellings are the kiss of death for me. If a seller cannot spell correctly in an ad, you can't completely trust their ability to address the package correctly! Maybe I should write a whole new book on the importance of the spell checker!